What the Future Holds
by TailsMoon
Summary: The story follows the child who looks a whole lot like Ed in the OVA Kids. R


Pretend the movie never happened. Ok? O.O

"Hey, Grandpa?"

Edward Elric turned away from his book to look at his great great grandson. It was his sixteenth birthday, and for reasons Ed couldn't figure out, he'd asked to spend the day with him, on his own. It was almost noon, but the boy hadn't said much since arriving and had ultimately started reading, and so Ed had started to read as well. All attempts to talk had failed.

His great great grandson's name was Edward as well, his great granddaughter deciding to name her son after him. It turned out that a year later she'd had another boy and she decided to name him Alphonse, even though she had never met her infamous great great uncle. So the boy's names were Edward and Alphonse Hughes. Yes, Hughes. Ed had been surprised when his line had mixed with the late Mr. Hughes' line, but he had most certainly approved.

"What's up, Kiddo?" Ed replied, calling his great great grandson "Kiddo" as if it were his name. He'd long ago started that as it had seemed strange to call someone else by his own name. "Are you bored? As I said earlier, I could take you out to eat if you want." (A/N. Before anyone get's confused, Ed/Edward is going to be used to refer to Edward Elric. Boy/Kiddo is going to be used to refer to Ed's great great grandson.)

"Actually… I was wondering if you could tell me about The Fullmetal Alchemist," the boy said, looking straight into his (A/N I am going to stop typing 'great great'. Just know, ok?) grandfather's eyes.

Ed raised an eyebrow. "You wanted to stay here today, with just me, listening to me tell you stories?"

"I know how to fight, you taught Al and I, but I want to know how you learned how to fight."

"They're just stories, Kiddo."

"That's what you always say, Grandpa, but you and I both know that's not true. Everyone else might think they're just stories, but that's what actually happened to you, right?"

Edward Elric had always told his children his past as if he were telling a story, and if asked, they weren't true. It just wouldn't do his family any good if they knew of the other world. The only things he had ever admitted to being true were things such as "My little brother, Alphonse, was a year younger than me and we used to do a lot of things together… but he died when I was sixteen."

"No, Kiddo. They're just stories."

"Then why did I see the other world?"

Ed stared at his grandson. "What?"

"I saw it, in a dream. And NO, it wasn't just a dream. I know what a dream feels like. This was… much different."

Ed narrowed his eyes, unconvinced. "You're telling me that you managed to convince yourself that my stories are real because of a dream? Kiddo…."

"I _saw_ you when you were younger! You looked almost exactly like me, but you had your hair in a braid."

"That's how I've always described The Fullmetal Alchemist."

"Yeah, but you never said that his little brother was a suit of armor!"

Ed froze. He had never told anybody that his brother had been a suit of armor, not even in the stories.

"You were just sitting on a train together, but you were talking about how you were planning to find the philosopher's stone to get your brother's body back, and-"

"Enough." Ed stood, rubbing his forehead. He was suddenly very tired. It didn't surprise him, he didn't have as much energy as he had once had, even though he was very healthy and energetic for his age. Excessively so, in fact.

"Grandfather!"

"That's enough! Go home and spend your birthday with Alphonse and Jenny." (A/N I decided that the little girl who looked like Winry shouldn't be named Winry, or Winifred, but Jennifer.)

"I don't want to go there."

Ed turned back to his grandson and waited for him to continue.

"I don't want to go there, but somehow… I get the feeling that I'm going to. That's why I wanted you to tell me about it. I know your stories, but I think you left out a lot."

Ed sat back down. "You feel that you're going to go there?"

"I think I almost did go there last night. I saw the gate, and what was in it, and it tried to pull me all the way through. If it happens again, I don't know if I could… keep myself here."

Ed was very serious as he asked, "What did you do to open the gate?"

"I don't think I did anything! I feel asleep thinking that I was about to be the Fullmetal Alche- I mean, thinking that'd I was about to turn the age you were when you got here. You know, you always said that the Fullmetal Alchemist's adventures lead him to our world where his adventuring came to an end because he grew up."

"Do Alphonse and Jenny share your dream?"

"No. Did you… just admit that you really _are_ the Fullmetal Alchemist?"

"I never told a single person on this side of the gate that Al had been a suit of armor."

"So you believe me? That I saw your world?"

"I met a girl once…"

"Noa."

Ed smiled. "You remember that story?"

"A gypsy girl that Alfonse Heidrich married, right? She could see what people were dreaming."

"Right… So you want to know more specifics about the other side of the gate? It's been nearly one hundred years, things will have changed. I can, however, tell you what they used to be like…. Over lunch, and probably dinner and cake as well."

That night, Edward Elric sent his great great grandson, now sixteen, home just like it were any other day and any other visit. Also that night, Edward Elric would die in his sleep. The doctors would say he died of old age, since he had been one hundred and ten years old.

As it turned out, Edward Hughes would not return to his great great grandfather's world that night. When he and his family were told of Edward Elric's death, and this included all of Edward's surviving children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren, they were all distraught. He had been the head of the family for a very long time and no one was sure of who the title should fall to. Edward's wife and oldest daughter had both passed away some time ago, and Ed's remaining daughter and son where both old and in poor health.

A week later, after the whole family had gathered, the funeral would be held.

"Brother?" Al said gently, walking up to his older brother. Jenny followed behind him.

(A/N. Now that the original Ed is dead…. Ed shall be used to refer to the younger.)

Ed gave a weak smile. He was sitting on a bench outside of the hotel they were staying in. "Hey Al, Jenny. What's up?"

"Grandpa's funeral…" Al chocked up the moment he said 'funeral'. Jenny finished his sentence.

"Grandpa's funeral is going to start soon. Mother wanted us to finish getting ready and get in the car."

Ed nodded and followed his younger siblings to the car. They'd been ready for hours.

They reached the cemetery that Edward Elric was to be buried in. It was a warm and sunny day and Ed hated the sky. It was supposed to rain when something like this happened. Instead there wasn't as much as single a cloud in the sky.

It was a funeral, just like any other. Those who didn't know the deceased well talked at the back, becoming quiet as the service started in an awkward pause. Then there were those who cried, loudly, silently, it didn't matter. They cried. And there were those who held back their tears so that they could comfort another loved one who needed it. Jenny and Al cried. Ed didn't. It wasn't in order to comfort them though, their mother was doing that. Ed wasn't crying because he was angry… no… he was furious. They had gotten his great great grandfather's gravestone wrong.

In loving memory of

Edward Elric

February 1905*-June 20th, 2015*

A caring, fatherly figure to all

With the gift to tell a story.

(A/N. Our world is 6 years ahead of Ed's, so Ed's birth and death dates are February 1899- June 20th, 2009 in his world)

Whether Ed's great great grandfather had told everyone that the Fullmetal Alchemist had been made up or not shouldn't have mattered. He knew that everyone had always assumed that Edward Elric had cast himself as the Fullmetal Alchemist, and at the very least that title should be on his grave.

Ed just glared at the grave for hours. Almost everyone had gone, only his family remained. His father walked up.

"Ed, let's go back to the hotel."

Ed shook his head.

"Look, I know you're upset, but standing there isn't going to do anybody any good."

"You need to fix it."

"Fix… what? Edward, let's go."

Edward turned on his father and shouted. "Why doesn't anyone else care that Grandpa's grave is wrong?"

Mr. Hughes backed up in surprise. "Edward? Wrong how?" He studied the grave closely. "I don't see anything wrong with it."

Ed's mother tried to pull him away, Jenny and Al were already in the car. "Dear, let's go."

"It needs to say that he was the Fullmetal Alchemist!"

His parents stopped and looked at him. His mother said, "That was all just a story, Edward. Putting something like that on his grave wouldn't be right."

Ed, becoming even more angry, pulled out of his mother's grasp and ran off through the cemetery, his father yelling at him to come back.

He ran and ran, not caring that the sun had gone down or that he hadn't eaten anything all day. Why wouldn't his mother, at least, care that after all those years of stories about the Fullmetal Alchemist that Edward Elric had been denied his title in death?

* * *

Ed awoke, groggily. He couldn't remember going to sleep, he hadn't even been aware that he'd stopped running.

For a moment he wondered if he'd been hit by a car or if he'd just passed out.

"Brother!"

Ed came to his senses as Al pulled him into a hug.

"A-Al?" Ed's eyes widened as he realized he was in somebody's basement. "Where… are we?"

It wasn't Al who answered. Instead, a deep voice replied, "You're in my basement, Fullmetal. Surprised?"

Al let go so that Ed could look at who was talking. Ed blinked at the dark haired man with an eye patch.

The man walked forwards. "You seem a little out of it, but I suppose that's to be expected after just being pulled back from the gate." The man pulled Ed to his feet and gave a sweeping motion to his hair. "You gave your hair to the gate for what reason?"

Ed's hand went to his head, thinking he'd gone bald, when something clicked. The man had called him 'Fullmetal' and Edward Elric's hair had been long.

Ed's head started spinning with questions, but as his eyes took in the man in front of him only one answer presented itself. He was in front of Roy Mustang, eye patch or no, and beside him, holding his arm and saying something to him worriedly was Alphonse, yes, but not his Alphonse. This wasn't Alphonse Hughes… no, this had to be Alphonse Elric.

Alphonse and Mustang both yelled in shock as Ed's eyes seemed to lose focus and he passed out.

While Ed lay unconscious, now on a couch thanks to Mustang, Al and Mustang talked.

"Sir, do you think Big Brother is alright?"

"He's been in the gate for almost a year, Alphonse. I'm sure that suddenly being back was a shock. He'll be fine."

Al sighed. "Thanks, by the way… for helping me get Brother back. If you hadn't found that array for opening the gate, I don't think I would have been able to pull him back."

"I've said before, it was nothing. He's my responsibility, after all. So are you."

Al smiled. When he had woken up under Central to find himself back in his body and his brother gone, again, it had been the Colonel, injured or not, who had helped him calm down and try to figure out a way to bring back Ed, for they had both known deep within that he wasn't dead.

There had been something, right before they'd activated the array, that had seemed to shift, but it had been forgotten when Ed had returned.

Ed shifted on the couch, groaning as he sat up, hand to his head. That was the second time that he'd woken up and he couldn't remember going to sleep.

"Brother! Don't push yourself, ok?" said Al, pushing Ed to lay back down again.

Ed laid back down for just a moment before he sat bolt upright again.

He shoved his face straight into Al's and demanded an answer. "You're Alphonse Elric, aren't you?"

Al was taken aback by the sudden question. "B-brother?"

"You are, aren't you?"

"Of course I am… Who else would I be?"

"Fullmetal, I don't think you've gotten enough rest yet."

This prompted the nodding Ed to turn on Mustang. "And you ARE Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist, right?"

Mustang's feeling of uneasiness that had appeared right before the transmutation reappeared. "I am…. And you are?"

Al backed away from Ed, a look of worry crossing his face. He hadn't… turned his brother into a homunculus, had he?

Ed shifted uneasily. "W-well. I'm….."

"You are?" Mustang said, gesturing for him to continue.

"Well, I'm not Edward Elric…."

Mustang glared at the boy sitting across from him, the exact image of Edward Elric, minus the hair and red coat. He even had the same fiery golden eyes.

"How do you know Alphonse and I, and that we're looking for Edward Elric if you are not Edward Elric?"

"You know what I think? I think there must be a major time gap between this side and the other side of the gate."

Al sat back down in one of the chairs and studied the boy across from him. Mustang, at the same time, came to the same conclusion Al did. This wasn't Edward Elric, he was too loose and… happy. He didn't have the tough look that Ed had had, and one very obvious difference was that this boy had a flesh right hand. Not to mention neither of them could easily picture Edward Elric wearing the formal black suit that this boy was wearing.

Al was silent, worried. Mustang however continued to question the boy.

"You didn't answer my question. Who are you?"

"H-hold on. I'm… trying to think how I should answer that."

"I want your name."

"Edward…. Hughes."

Mustang raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"My father is Victor Hughes. I'm named after Edward Elric though, so Edward Hughes. That's… me." Ed paused a moment and thought about how to describe the other side of the gate. He didn't know much about alchemy…

"I wasn't in the gate, I was on the other side of it, alright? I've not studied alchemy, so I can't tell you details, but from what Gra- Edward Elric told me, there are two worlds. The gate keeps them separate. He tried to trade for his brother by giving his life, but instead he just lost his arm and leg again and then got sent to the other side of the gate."

Mustang seemed surprised. "He told you all of that?"

"Of course."

"Then, do you know why you look so much like Fullmetal?"

Ed shifted uncomfortably. "I was trying to explain the rest, first, before I got into that."

Mustang nodded.

"This side and the other share the same people. Like… Maes Hughes was here and there, but only the one on this side died."

Ed cringed at the face Mustang made. "Sorry! I didn't mean to say it like that, I-"

"So you're the 'other' Edward?" Al asked. "That means I pulled the wrong-"

"No. I'm not the other Edward Elric. The other Edward Elric died the same night your brother did, but you brought your brother back."

Mustang rubbed his eye, the one without the patch. "So then, who are you?"

Ed rushed the next sentence, "I'm his great great grandson."

Both paused and stared at Ed. Al was the first to say something. "What?"

Ed shifted uncomfortably and gave an awkward smile. "I said earlier that time was faster on my side, didn't I? …. Well, it's faster on my side… and I'm Edward Elric's great. Great. Grandson."

"T-Then what's happened to Brother?"

Ed's face darkened. "He… died about a week ago."

"What? How?"

"What do you mean 'how?' Grandpa was one hundred and ten! He was _old_." Ed cringed and bit his lip. He had just been at the funeral earlier that day, it wasn't like he'd already gotten over the death.

"H-how long has it been for you?" Ed asked.

Al was speechless, and Mustang not much better, but Mustang did answer.

"Only one year."

Ed's head started doing the math. If his great great grandfather's trip to his world had been a six year gap, as he had been told, then to his family he had already been gone six years, and a return journey would be another six years. That was twelve years. His little brother and sister were already older than him. Not to mention that if he stayed here for any length of time… about every two and a half days here was a whole year there.

"Why did you two have to bring me here?" he muttered, anger dripping from his voice. "My family probably thinks I'm dead now! I'm sorry you had to hear about Grandpa's death from me, but I cared about him too, it's not like he died unloved! His wife passed on a long time ago, but he was married, and he had three kids."

Al was stareing at Ed, listening. (A/N. You really don't have to read the whole next paragraph, just the last sentence or so. If you want to read up on my made up family tree for Edward, go right ahead.)

"His oldest two were girls, and the youngest was a boy. The oldest had some seven kids, the middle had two, and the youngest had only one. I don't know the numbers past that, but his son was my great grandpa, and his son was my grandpa. Then there was my mom and my aunt. Then there was me and _my_ little brother and my little sister. I have countless great aunts, uncles, cousins, but great great Grandpa knew us all and everyone cared for him. My family cares for me… and I'd like you to send me back!"

Mustang sat quietly, solemnly smiling. He'd worried for so long of what would happen to Ed once he reached adulthood that he was relieved to know that he had done alright.

Al, though, started crying. He was feeling mixed emotions, some happy to know that his brother had been alright without him and had lived a happy life, others were sad because he no longer had his brother. One that needed attention though was his guilt. "I-I'm sorry, but I don't think I can send you back!"

"What? Why not?" Ed's dream from the week before came back to him. He had had Edward Elric tell him everything for this very reason. The feeling had come true.

"The transmutation circle was for pulling someone to it, not pushing someone away."

An awkward silence fell then. "Um, what should I call you?" Al asked, trying to change the subject.

"I've got the same question for you… It's funny, but my little brother is named Alphonse too. After you… so should I call you 'Al', or would prefer something else? I could always call you 'Great Great Uncle' but that's a bit much… maybe 'Uncle?' I did just call your brother 'Grandpa'."

Mustang watched the two as they talked to the other, trying to get a feel for how to treat each other.

"You can call me whatever you feel like calling me. What did Brother call you? Ed? Eddie?"

Ed gagged. "'Eddie'? Ugh. No, he always just called me 'Kiddo'."

Mustang laughed.

This triggered a glare from Ed. "Got a problem with that?"

"Not at all, 'Kiddo.'"

Al laughed a little as well. "Could I call you that?"

Ed shrugged. "I'm not that much younger than you, I think… but if you want. I'll just call you 'Uncle' then."

Al nodded. "How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

Al's eyebrow twitched. "Really? You don't look…"

There was a sudden glare from Ed that dared Al to finish that sentence.

"I guess you're older than I am. I'm only fifteen."

Mustang saw Ed's pause. "You seem to have a _short_ temper, Kiddo."

"Seriously?" Ed yelled. "You're seriously going to start that with me? Tsk, Grandpa was right, you _are_ a bastard."

Mustang became serious. "Kid, was that really Edward's opinion of me, in the end?"

"Of course. But… he always did say he owed you a lot, and…. He said that he'd have liked to talk to you again." Mustang smiled, glad that he hadn't been too harsh with Fullmetal.

Al piped up. "What did Brother say about me?"

Ed scoffed. "What didn't he say about you? He cared way too much about you if you ask me. He'd have worried if you were ok if you'd gotten a speck of dust in your eye! … Not that I'm any different when it comes to Al or Jenny. Oh."

"'Oh' what?" Al asked.

"He… thought you were dead. After everything that had happened… he'd thought you were dead. That him being alive meant that he hadn't brought you back." Al didn't say anything, but he really was regretting that his great great nephew was now stuck with him.

Ed's stomach growled. He hadn't eaten in a while.

"Alright," Mustang said, "I just have two more questions, then we'll eat. One: are you related to Maes Hughes? Two: What do you plan to do now?"

"Maes Hughes is the name of my great great great grandpa I think. On my Dad's side. Elysia Hughes was his only kid, so I guess that would make her my great great grandma."

Ed paused before answering Mustang's second question. "My family is fine, and there isn't much of a chance for me to go back anytime soon, and if it isn't soon it'll be too late… so I'm going to have my own adventure. I mean, I might as well."

Mustang sighed. "Adventure?"

"Dude, I'm in a totally different world. I mean, how epic is that? You know? Why the hell shouldn't I explore a bit or something?"

All Mustang and Al could say to that was, "What?"

"Epic?"

Dude?"

Ed sweat dropped. "Oh… yeah. Right. The slang… Um…" Ed went on to explain various slang words over dinner. He wasn't worried for his family, after all, by the time he had arrived here, Al would have been twenty one and Jenny would have been twenty. They would be fine without him. They had to be fine without him.

* * *

Yup. That's Chapter one. The real adventures start off in chapter two, if you're interested. I do know that there is a lot of chatter in this first chapter... chat chat chat chat chat. R&R!


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